I Was His Wife, Then His Widow, Then No One's But My Own novel Chapter 230

Nora completely bypassed the pleasantries, flipping open her binder and diving straight into the pitch.

She outlined the trial's core objectives, dictating the mandatory hardware parameters, clinical infrastructure, and the hard baseline for patient volume. Finally, she threw a brutal, head-to-head comparison of every competing hospital onto the projector screen.

She knew the data flawlessly, having dissected every decimal point in her sleep.

Finnegan leaned back in his leather chair, listening intently. As he watched the woman commanding the room, a jarring wave of awe and disorientation washed over him.

It had been an eternity since he had seen Nora in a true professional arena. He was forced to admit that she had morphed into a terrifyingly brilliant stranger he barely recognized.

When the presentation concluded, Nora slammed the binder shut. Clasping her hands over the mahogany, she leveled a dead-eyed stare at him. "Mr. Fletcher, those are the uncompromising facts driving our selection of Fletcher Medical Center for Phase Two. If there are no objections, we request to move into the final contracting phase immediately."

Finnegan let the silence hang for two beats before nodding.

"The proposal is bulletproof. I approve the partnership in principle. We'll have our legal department review the specifics, aiming to finalize the ink by the end of the week."

Nora stood up, offering him a curt nod before gathering her files to leave.

Finnegan rose with her. He hesitated, his lips parting as if fighting the urge to say something more.

Nora didn't give him the chance. Shoving the drafts into her briefcase, she dismissed him with polite, arctic professionalism. "If there's nothing else, Mr. Fletcher, I'll be taking my leave."

She turned on her heel and headed for the doors.

The oxygen in the room vanished instantly.

The directors traded hushed, urgent whispers before the most senior executive broke ranks. "Ms. Shaw makes a compelling argument. Fletcher Medical Center is the crown jewel of this corporation. We cannot simply hand it over to serve as a guinea pig for an unverified pet project. Frederick, you may have acted recklessly on this one."

Trapped in the crossfire, Finnegan's face turned ash-gray.

He glared at the aggressively mobilized directors and the steely-eyed Seraphina. He wanted to rip into them, but her venom had already entirely poisoned the board's stance.

If he tried to bulldoze the vote and force the contract through now, it would only prove Seraphina's narrative right.

They would assume he was blindly protecting Nora out of sheer romantic obsession. He clenched his fists tight, swallowing the rage on his tongue, and shot a desperate look at Nora.